If you are going to advertise that you have wifi internet access at the sites, make sure that it works as consistently as the water and electric hook ups.
If you advertise that wifi internet is "free", then campers will assume that it does in fact work. And by the way, it is not "free", it is INCLUDED in the price we have paid you, the same way the electricity and water is.
If you cannot afford to pay the money to have a consistent, working internet connection for your customers, then do not have one at all.
Don't you just like how they say wifi at site and when you try and use it they want to charge you 14.95 for a week. Happen to me once after that I check it out before I stay.
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karead wrote: If you are going to advertise that you have wifi internet access at the sites, make sure that it works as consistently as the water and electric hook ups.
If you advertise that wifi internet is "free", then campers will assume that it does in fact work. And by the way, it is not "free", it is INCLUDED in the price we have paid you, the same way the electricity and water is.
If you cannot afford to pay the money to have a consistent, working internet connection for your customers, then do not have one at all.
having crappy wifi to no wifi at a stie is normal and few advertise that it is available at all sites...
free or included, use which ever makes you feel good I guess... the net result are the same...
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
If it was possible to have wifi as consistent as water and electricity, I would. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. It is subject to way to many variables, many of which are out of the control of the campground and in control of the end user. I cannot help it if you have not updated the software in your computer for the past 3 years. In my area, I do not have access to unlimited bandwidth, sorry. My system cannot support 50 people trying to stream video, use VOIP phones (they take incredible bandwidth and stay active all the time) or allow someone to model a nuclear weapon. Also, WiFi is a two way street. A signal must go from your computer to my access point. If you are getting a strong signal from me, and poor (or no) performance from the internet, YOUR wireless capability is probably the problem. I suggest running a speed test (www.speedtest.net). If the download is reasonable and the upload very slow, the problem is your wireless is having problems sending to my access point. Everyday items can block your wireless transmission to the access point. A glass of water is very opaque to wifi frequencies. If one is in the line of site from your computer to the wifi antenna, service may suffer. Sorry, you object to the word "free", but I will continue to use it, because that is what most guests want it to be called and it doesn't put the idea in the head of guests that do not use the WiFi that they are somehow paying for something they do not use and therefore should be owed some kind of refund.
westernrvparkowner wrote: If it was possible to have wifi as consistent as water and electricity, I would. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
Of course it is possible, and it DOES work that way! Anyone who says it is not, is simply not willing to spend the money to make it so.
westernrvparkowner wrote: It is subject to way to many variables, many of which are out of the control of the campground and in control of the end user. I cannot help it if you have not updated the software in your computer for the past 3 years.
Agreed. In those particular situations it would obviously not be your wifi systems fault.
westernrvparkowner wrote: In my area, I do not have access to unlimited bandwidth, sorry. My system cannot support 50 people trying to stream video, use VOIP phones (they take incredible bandwidth and stay active all the time) or allow someone to model a nuclear weapon.
Yes you do, you just haven't spent the money on a satellite system. And people are now EXPECTING that if you have internet, you should be able to stream video or use Skype. That's what the internet is for. And it's only going to become more expected as the younger generation gets older.
westernrvparkowner wrote: Also, WiFi is a two way street. A signal must go from your computer to my access point. If you are getting a strong signal from me, and poor (or no) performance from the internet, YOUR wireless capability is probably the problem.
I totally disagree. If I am getting a strong signal from your router, then I should have no problem being on the internet.
westernrvparkowner wrote: Everyday items can block your wireless transmission to the access point. A glass of water is very opaque to wifi frequencies. If one is in the line of site from your computer to the wifi antenna, service may suffer.
True, however that only means that your access point is too far away from my laptop. Make multiple, or more, access points. Again, this will entail spending money.
westernrvparkowner wrote: Sorry, you object to the word "free", but I will continue to use it, because that is what most guests want it to be called and it doesn't put the idea in the head of guests that do not use the WiFi that they are somehow paying for something they do not use and therefore should be owed some kind of refund.
It's not "free" it's INCLUDED. The same way that a hotel chain is wrong when they advertise they have a "free" continental breakfast. Does that mean that anyone can stop by and have breakfast? No, it's for their hotel guests and the proper terminology would be to advertise that breakfast is INCLUDED.
KAREAD unless you know something I do not, and I am a satellite internet user, satellite would NOT be the way to provide internet to a large amount of people. Even the most expensive plans have daily megabyte limits that would easily be overwhelmed by just a handful of users. Not only that, satellite is slow by comparison to other providers.
Fiber optic or a dedicated T3 line is the fastest way I know currently to get internet. After that, cable (or T1) is next, then DSL, then Satellite, then dialup.
As far as the original thread. Installing wifi that works well throughout a large park can be very expensive, 10,000 bucks or more for the equipment and installation. I have to wonder how many parks can afford to do this? So instead, they use regular routers from Best Buy, and hope that it works well enough for most users.
Sometimes, just taking your computer outside does the trick. Sometimes you have to walk down to the office and sit in the lobby, or on the patio. If a park knows it has a limited range, they are usually happy to allow you to sit near the office with your computer.
Rodney 2005 Laredo 29GS 2002 F250 V-10 Hughesnet Satellite Internet
WeternRV: I wouldn't bother on this one any further because Karead clearly has no comprehension whats involved with setting up and maintaining a network like this. Thinking that setting up satellite system clears up your bandwidth issues makes that fact clear enough to me. Since they also seem to think they have the right to stream anything they want at any time, perhaps you should install a DS3 on the property. Lets see, wouldn't that bring site rental up somewhere around $300-$700/day?
That is exactly why we purchased our own wireless gadget from AT&T.
We were constantly faced with the unreliability of the campgrounds service. We found that a few of them sincerely tried to provide the entire campground with good WIFI service, but was faced with lots of assorted problems. Then we also found that many campgrounds advertised that they had free WIFI service and this seemed to just be an enticement to get you into the campground. Then once you got in there and set up and tried to use the service and discovered that you had no service they would always have some excuse that it just was not presently working.
We fought that problem far too many times and were very disgusted and disappointed, so we decided that we wanted to have the ability to have wifi wherever we went.
I don't blame all the campgrounds as I understand that they are faced with many obstacles in providing consistent and reliable service.
I am also sure that it is likely an expensive investmant for them to provide that service.
But I do think that if they advertise that the service is available, then they had best insure that it is operational, or they should not advertise the availability.
Larry
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